Family
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September 24, 2024
The succession rights of unborn children: Intestacy
Intestate succession in Ontario is governed by a structured and complex process under the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA). The legislation first provides for the surviving spouse and descendants, and if there are none, it makes provision for other blood relatives of the intestate.
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September 23, 2024
Early election could kill proposed miscarriage of justice review body if bill not soon enacted
With the possibility of an early federal election looming this fall, advocates for the creation of an independent body to investigate suspected wrongful convictions are urging the Senate to move expeditiously to study and pass Bill C-40, proposed government legislation that would give birth to a long-awaited independent review body.
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September 23, 2024
Exemptions to abortion bans: More reasons why they don’t work — police reports | Abby Hafer
In my articles of Sept. 12 and Sept.18, I discussed some severe problems with rape exemptions to abortion bans. These included the fact that they effectively punish women for having sex voluntarily as though that is in some way a crime and that they fail to provide access to abortion to those who qualify, since in states with bans abortion clinics all shut down, so those wishing to exercise the rape exemption cannot get an abortion in state anyway.
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September 20, 2024
Canadian Judicial Council says guidelines coming for federal judges’ use of AI, social media
As part of their two-day fall meeting in Charlottetown this week, the chief and associate-chief justices of the nation’s superior courts discussed their progress in creating guidelines for federal judges’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) says.
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September 19, 2024
Treasury Board president Anita Anand gets second Cabinet post as transport minister
Liberal MP Anita Anand, the president of the federal Treasury Board and former defence minister in the Liberal government, has taken on the additional post of minister of transportation.
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September 19, 2024
Ontario estate decision ‘very pragmatic’ in approach to limitation periods, legal expert says
Ontario’s top court has ruled that a claim for unjust enrichment against an estate was statute-barred under the province’s Trustee Act, and a legal expert is saying the decision suggests a need to update the legislation to clarify limitation periods for claims against an estate.
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September 19, 2024
Damages for family violence still being awarded
Despite the ground-breaking case of Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2023 ONCA 476, headed for reconsideration by the Supreme Court of Canada, victims of family violence are still collecting compensation for the injuries caused by their spouses.
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September 19, 2024
MARITAL OR FAMILY PROERTY - Considerations for unequal division - Financial resources of parties - Presumption of advancement
Appeal by husband’s estate (Estate) and cross-appeal by wife arising from litigation following breakdown of marriage between DO (wife) and TO (husband). The main issues related to whether certain financial advances were loans or gifts, who was liable to repay them, and the calculation of child support. The Estate's appeal challenged the trial judge's (judge) finding that while the corporate respondent Ridgeway Education Rec Centre Ltd. (Ridgeway) (indirectly owned by the wife) owed the husband $341,000 for advances in 2013, but the claim was dismissed due to expiry of the limitation period.
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September 18, 2024
2 new associates join Thomson Rogers
Thomson Rogers recently announced the addition of Julia Belton and David J. Laird as associates in the firm’s family law and personal injury groups, respectively.
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September 18, 2024
More reasons why rape exemptions to abortion laws don’t work: Access | Abby Hafer
As I noted in my article of Sept. 13, 2024, anti-abortion activists will sometimes say that they would permit exemption to abortion bans in the cases of rape or incest. This can make their anti-abortion stance seem somewhat less cruel.